Land is Life is supporting the struggle of the Zapara people, who live in the Amazon rainforest along the border of Peru and Ecuador. A century ago they were one of the more numerous peoples in the area, numbering over 20,000. Today they are 350.
"At a time when our civilization is plagued by conflict, uncertainty, and destruction of the natural world, it is important to remember that there are other ways of living, other ways of being, that are based not on conflict but on harmony; not on destruction but on reciprocity with nature. Where indigenous peoples have managed to maintain control of their territories, we can still find clean waters, healthy ecosystems, and the vast majority of the world’s biodiversity. This, I suggest, is where hope lies.
"Gloria Ushigua is a shaman, dreamer, and leader of the Zapara people. The Zapara live in the Amazon forest on both sides of the border between Peru and Ecuador. In the 1970s anthropologists declared that the Zapara were extinct; disappeared from the face of the Earth. They were wrong."
Excerpts from Brian’s interview with Gloria Ushigua:
"A century ago, we were one of the more numerous peoples in the area that today is called the Amazon forest, on the border of Peru and Ecuador. We numbered about 20,000 people and we lived along the banks of the Curaray, Conambo, Tigre, and Villano rivers.
"Then the rubber companies came. They brought a time of suffering that you can’t imagine. Men and women were made slaves. We were sold in the ports of Iquitos and Putumayo. Those who resisted were raped and killed. The rubber companies also brought sicknesses that caused many, many deaths.
"Today, in Ecuador we are 200 Zapara and in Peru we are about 150. The governments and anthropologists already thought that we no longer existed. Oil companies began looking for oil in our territory. So we came out of the forest to tell the world that we still exist. Despite more than four centuries of invasions, we Zapara, the people of the forest, have managed to survive. We have preserved our culture, our way of life, and our vision of the world. We have defended our territories and maintained our forest and rivers.
"We have a subsistence economy. We live from hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruits. We have small, traditional gardens. We make ceramics and weave baskets that we sell once a year to buy salt, matches, and machetes. Women and men are equals in our society; work and responsibilities are shared. Everyone is respected. We are happy. Most of the sounds that you hear in our villages are of people laughing.
"Now the oil companies are coming. It is dangerous…but we are not afraid. What can we be afraid of? Disappearing? We know that we will disappear if we do not struggle. We want our lands to be demarcated and legalized. We want the oil companies and the governments to agree to a ten-year moratorium on road building and oil exploration on our lands. We have visited communities that are affected by the oil companies. The people are sick, the water is polluted, they are hungry because the animals and fish have gone away, and the children have disease on their skin. We are not ready. We need time to prepare."
